[1] The open-heart surgery entails removing a portion of the septum that is obstructing the flow of blood from the left ventricle to the aorta.
[2] The most common alternatives to septal myectomies are treatment with medication (usually beta or calcium blockers) or non-surgical thinning of tissue with alcohol ablation.
[3] Septal myectomy is associated with a low perioperative mortality and a high late survival rate.
A study at the Mayo Clinic found surgical myectomy performed to relieve outflow obstruction and severe symptoms in HCM was associated with long-term survival equivalent to that of the general population, and superior to obstructive HCM without operation.
The results are shown below:[4] Either alcohol ablation or myectomy offers substantial clinical improvement for patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.